Anime Protaganists : Truth and Facts
by freedzoneruin
Summary: Truth and Facts about Mary Sues and actually good protagonists.
1. Chapter 1

**As expected there will probably be a lot of trolls. But feel free to ignore idiots and trolls like God90zilla who only came to this website to annoy and troll other people.**

Good characters and actual Mary Sues

The Ultimate Mary Sue: Luffy

Character Development: Nonexistent. Luffy is a completely one dimensional character

He constantly recklessly puts his teammates in danger

He is still challenging admirals and now even emperors recklessly

He is still refusing to negotiate with others.

No signs of him sympathising or negotiating with enemies.

Bellamy wasn't an enemy. He got one shot and was more of a minor annoyance same as Buggy. Bege and Law were just fellow pirate crews with different morals. Smoker even helped Luffy a few times and Luffy liked Smoker from the beginning. Nothing new there.

Luffy can make friends out of anyone. The ultimate Mary sue power up.

Power Ups: Make no sense.

Second Gear: He somehow learns an advanced version of Soru for Second Gear with no explanation of how, when or why. He just gets second Gear just because

Third Gear: He has Third Gear just because.

Then there is the fact that One Piece is literally just a hentai.

one piece female characters. Nami wears a bra and shorts like a whore. Robin wears an open shirt with her breasts hanging out like a whore. Then there is one piece characters like Sadi-Chan a blatant BDSM characters. One Piece doesn't even attempt to hide that its a hentai. I mean for fucks sake this is running gag of One Piece watch?v=EdODN0FQiBw A guy asking for panties and panty shots. Nami . /search?q=nami+one+piece&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB782GB782&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj8ytLG8qDeAhVHFMAKHRgGAdEQ_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=626#imgrc=oaQU-LfhEEcT-M:

Good Character: Natsu

Character Development: During his battle with Sting and Rogue, he shows that he has learned to strategize during his fights after the timeskip instead of charging in recklessly. As he figures out their fighting styles and the direction of their attacks. This is also shown during the Alvarez Arc when he restrains himself to save power for future enemies.

He learns to forgive his enemies as shown when he co-operates with Jellal and Cobra contrary to the beginning of series when he originally held a strong grudge against his enemies.

After his battle with Gildarts. He takes Gildarts' advice into future prospect and learns to accept help from his allies, something originally out of character for Natsu for example during the Mard Geer fight. When he accepts help from Gray and when he encourages his teammates during the Hades fight. Another lesson he took from Gildarts is that it takes wisdom and strength to sheathe his sword when its out. Natsu has never been on to give up a battle at the start but when he sees Brandish he realizes he is outmatched and is willing to give up & retreat to fight another day. He won't risk his comrades' lives on reckless charge.

He is willing to negotiate with August instead of jumping straight to violence to try avoid the war and save lives. He even tries to talk and sympathise with Zeref. Someone he previously wouldn't have given the time of day and just attacked. He is even willing to try talk and sympathize with Acnologia. Someone who killed his father in all but blood. I can count at least 10 things Natsu would not have done at the beginning of the series

Power ups:

Flames of emotion: Introduced during his first fight. He gets stronger, the angrier he gets.

Lightning Flame Mode: He gains this power by eating Laxus's lightning. Something previously shown when he eats etherion. As shown before Dragon Slayers can gain powers from other elements but it has its setbacks and is painful to eat.

Dragon Force: First used during the Tower of Heaven Arc. It was hinted at throughout the arc that Natsu was going to gain a new ability on top of the tower by Simon and Happy.

Etherion partially was made out of fire magic allowing Natsu to eat it.

When he fights Jellal. Contrary to statements from trolls. It was never stated that dragon slayers can't eat other elements. Just that it was painful for them and more difficult.

Blaze Dragon King Mode; He gains this power from Igneel. He has to go for a year to train and refine this power so he can control it.

Good Character: Erza

Character Development:

Erza has several personality traits

Aggressive Tsundere

Loner, she wears her armors to protect herself from others

Loves sweets and cakes

Closet Pervert

Strict and Motherly

Polite, Noble and Honourable

Overtime she evolves into a more open person and learns to trust others. This starts after the Tower of Heaven Arc where Erza comes to deal with a nightmare from the past and comes to terms with her issues. She finally realizes she can't keep shielding herself from others and sees how much her family cares about her.

This is especially prevalent in the Alvarez Arc where its shown how much she trusts Natsu when he says he is going to defeat Zeref. Usually Erza is the one who grabs Natsu and yells at him to stop being reckless.

She earns her victories and learns from her losses.

Power Ups:

Nakagami Armor: A lot of trolls and FT haters called this power of friendship. But that is completely false. Before the Grand Magic Games. Team Natsu met up with Crime Sorciere. Where Erza & the others gained their second origin. Hence why Erza says "Release: Second Origin"

There is also the fact that from the beginning of series Erza is stated to have more than 100 armours.

Mary Sue: Shirou Emiya

Character Development: Nonexistent. Similar to Luffy, Shirou is a completely one dimensional character

All you really need to know about him is that he wants to be a hero and protect others. That's basically his entire character. He comes from the series Fate Stay Night, the sequel to Fate Zero and boy was Fate Stay Night a disappointment.

Inherently there is nothing wrong with having your character being a hero but that is only if it is done right.

Power Ups: Can beat any enemy through the power of love and friendship.

No seriously. There is no justification for the power of bullshit this guy gets. He beats freaking Gilgamesh through the power of bullshit.

Let take these three much better characters for instance.

Kiritsugu Emiya

Character Development:

"I was reckless when I was young. I educated myself by cursing the heartlessness of the world. The world was cruel – so I made myself more heartless and used that as a weapon, trying to follow through on my ideals." – Kiritsugu Emiya

One of my favorite character. He is man who is jaded by his experiences. He originally wanted to be hero, a trait passed onto his son Shirou. But he was soon learned how horrible reality was as he saw his home, family and crush destroyed. He transforms from a happy go lucky child to burnt cinnamon bun who is a deadly assassin.

"They call certain methods of fighting good and others evil, acting as if there were some nobility to the battlefield. Such illusions, perpetrated by heroes throughout history, have led countless young men to their bloody deaths, all for the sake of this valor and glory." – Kiritsugu Emiya

He is willing to use any underhanded means to win. However he does still show signs of humanity. For example several times over he shows he is willing to give up the war and take Irisviel back home to their daughter so he doesn't risk losing his family. This is someone who is constantly scared and terrified behind a mask of calmness to hide his fears.

"Our Heroic Spirit here thinks the battlefield is something better than hell. What a joke. It's hell itself. There's no hope on the battlefield. It has nothing but unspeakable despair. Just a crime we call victory, paid for by the pain of the defeated. Yet humanity has never recognised this truth. And the reason for that is, in every era a dazzling hero has blinded people with their legends and prevented them from seeing the evil of bloodshed. The true nature of humanity has not advanced a step beyond the stone age."

He has gone through a life of misery and despair. The same dark experience that made him who he was today. He is an incredible sympathetic character. He has seen the cruel reality of life and that has destroyed his innocent view of the world. He has become cynical and close minded in his views.

That's what so great about Fate Zero. More than anything, It was a battle between ideals and different goals. You saw all these different character motivations and life stories that changed these amazing characters into who they are today. The philosophical debates between their points of view were just amazing and awe inspiring.

Fate Stay Night can be summed up as the boy who got his own harem and beat the bad guy. That's it. That's literally the entire story. You are literally deluding yourself if you think there is anything deep about Fate Stay Night. I've watched it multiple times both anime and visual novel. It is an overglorified cheap harem anime.

Kirito

Character Development:

After escaping Sword Art Online for the first time. Kirito is permanently scarred for life. This shows even in later series. He is constantly having nightmares about the ordeal, has survivor's guilt after seeing all the people who died and even gives up duel wielding except in emergencies.

Shirou on other hand comes out of Holy Grail completely unscathed, same for Rin and the others. After what is described as survival of the fittest. His view on the world is completely the same, his personality is exactly the same, pretty much no one dies, no sacrifices were made, no development was made. Shirou remains the same one dimensional character he was before.

Izuku Midoriya

Character Development:

Deku similar to Shirou, is someone who wanted to be a hero his entire life. A big difference however is how their mentor/older versions impacts their lives.

To start off the Archer & Shirou relationship. Pointless. Archer is a servant in Fate Stay Night. But the whole future Shirou Emiya thing was completely pointless. Shirou does not change one bit from this and still defeats Archer anyway. Archer could have been literally anyone and the story would not have changed one single bit. Heck just make Archer a normal hero who comes from Russia with the power of tracing and the story would not have changed at all.

Now then Deku & All Might. Deku idolises All might. Practically worships the ground he walks. Similar to Shirou. Deku is self destructive and reckless. His powers literally destroy his body from the inside out. But unlike Shirou, the biggest difference between them. Deku actually has *Character Development*.

Obviously Deku can't just keep up his self-sacrificial tendencies. So after seeing how much this affects his mother and the people he cares about. He learns how selfish and reckless he was being. Only thinking of himself and his own goals. He learns to be less reckless and take better care of himself. He adapts his fighting style so there is less pressure on his arms and begins to focus on a more leg-based fighting style with help from Tenya Iida.

 **For the sake of explaining common sense to the idiots babyraging in the review section**

UBW vs Gate of Babylon

Gilgamesh stomps. Gilgamesh even when not serious was trolling Saber by casually defending against her attacks in Fate Stay Night. He also restricted Berserker easily with Enkidu. Several Fate Fans in forums have also called Shirou & Sieg mary sues. Because Shirou himself admits that any servant could take on UBW and win. But he apparently thinks he can beat Gilgamesh because sword spam = sword spam. If that was true most anime characters would easily beat Gilgamesh. But as Fate fans love to bring up Gilgamesh has several ships, armour , shields, haxed weapons that could easily defeat his opponents e.g. moving at the speed of light or thought. You can't have it both ways.

Heaven's Feel

Shirou sacrifices nothing. He doesn't give up his dream. Best case for Shirou, He simply chooses not to take the easy way out. That's it. He doesn't deserve an award just for that. At the end of the day, its still the same as any other route, He fights Kirei, or the other repetitive bad guy, saves the day and goes back to live with his family and friends. Illya dies, that's not exactly new after saving Shirou through a Deus ex machina. He is still fighting Angra Mainyu to save the world, he is still fighting Sakura to save the world. Besides Shirou acting Emo over nothing. Nothing changes.

Depth of other routes

Non existent.

Fate Stay Night, defeat and save tsundere little sister, defeat the evil priest

UBW, Fight Kuzuki, Saber gets kidnapped, Archer turns traitor, Gilgamesh kills Illya, Shirou beats Archer and this whole scene was pointless. Since Shirou doesn't change or do anything about his flaws, Shirou beats Gilgamesh through power of friendship, day is saved again.

Your babyraging simply proves my point that all Fate fans are clearly braindead idiots who throw a tantrum at anyone who disagrees with them yet you idiots have the nerve to bash other series and act like assholes.

 **Asspulls and Plot Armor**

Meliodas's plot armor. Estarossa completely kills him, confident he will stay dead, Zeldris agrees. But plot armor brings Meliodas back to life stronger than ever. And guess Meliodas with no training whatsoever will just suddenly have his power level increase by thousands out of nowhere.

King and Gowther power of friendship. Is Mael overwhelmingly powerful. Well don't worry King and Gowther can use the power of friendship to defeat him. Do you need your main characters powered up for demons who are way out of their league.

Diane - Have one flashback then have your power increase by over 30000 out of nowhere King - Have one flashback then get a massive powerup out of nowhere. Is that not enough. Here is a another massive powerup to defeat Mael out of nowhere.

Gowther - Here's your heart, now your power increases to over 40000 because your love and friendship. Literally the explanation given.

Merlin - Did you die by Galan's curse. Don't worry we can bring you back to life. Let's use the excuse you immune to curses. But Merlin was just petrified by a curse won't the audience figure this is a stupid deus ex machina. Don't worry Seven Deadly Sins fans are idiot.

 **Ichigo's Power of Friendship**

Then we have Ichigo who is ultimate user of power of friendship.

Is Grimmjow completely kicking Ichigo's ass in every way even with Bankai and Hollow Mask. Orihime likes me. Suddenly Power of Friendship and Ichigo wins.

Is Ulquiorra completely overwhelming Ichigo in every way and he just killed Ichigo through the chest. Power of Friendship to save the day cause Orihime cried for me.

Is Aizen so Overwhelmingly Powerful its literally impossible to beat him. Well here comes power of friendship to save the day.

Is Yhwach ridiculously overwhelmingly powerful well here comes the deus ex machina arrow out of nowhere to save the day.

 **Hunter x Hunter and the Pretentious Fanbase**

Gon and Killua got kidnapped by the main villains of the entire show. Let's make the Phantom Troupe into a bunch of idiots who apparently have no idea how a hostage negotiation works. Two 10 year olds nearly escaped the heavily hyped vetaran warriors on multiple occasions then just when you thought the Phantom Troupe couldn't get any more pathetic. They stupidly let Kurapika dictate to them exactly what they are going to do and how they are going to do it like these supposed villains are little children. The Phantom Troupe actually let Gon and Killua go just like that. There is plot induced stupidity and then there is this garbage.

In one Arc. Gon got a power up into Adult Gon through power of friendship. His dead friend Kite came back to life out of nowhere so Gon wouldn't have to feel sad. All of Gon's injuries was healed by Deus Ex Machina called Alluka.


	2. Chapter 2

**Response to the idiots in the review section: Wow, just wow. This is the reason. People think TV rots the brain because of idiots like you. Not a single one of you idiots had even one legitimate point. You morons either threw a tantrum, started bashing fairy tail or overall just acted like mentally retarded idiots. This is exactly why points like this need to made. Because braindead idiots like you seem to keep increasing. But no, you idiots ignore reality and keep throwing tantrums.**

A lot of anime series tend to have horrible fanbases that ruin the series for everyone. The worst fanbase of all time is by far the One Piece fanbase. But the DBZ Fanbase is close second. The other worst anime fanbases are

Then there is the Type-Moon Fanbase. Honestly the comment section for this fanfic alone shows a great example of how mentally retarded the Fate fanbase is. Even I didn't expect the Fate fans to be this braindead. I expected complaining. That's kind of inevitable when you talk about series like Fate or One Piece. But I thought at least one person would act like he had brain cells and bring up a legitimate point if he was going to complain. But no that's expecting too much from cringeworthy Fatetards.

There are One Piece fans everywhere bashing other series, insulting & bullying people and going so far to send death threats. Not a single redeeming factor in One Piece fanbase. This only proves that the one piece fanbase is completely toxic. Eiichiro Oda made a series that turned the people watching into irredeemable assholes. Honestly One Piece being created left a massively negative impact on the world, not a positive one. That's about a big failure as you can get. So to all one piece fans who claimed they learned important life lessons. Stop lying to yourself. If you did learn life lessons you wouldn't be acting like assholes or trolling on the internet. The same goes for Kinoko Nasu. You created a series that created one of the most cancerous fanbases in history. A series should leave a positive impact on people whether for entertainment, life lessons or otherwise. Clearly the Type Moon Series only left a huge negative impact on the world and made people into assholes from watching the Fate series. Both Eiichiro Oda and Kinoko Nasu failed as writers.

DBZ Fanbase  
Type-Moon Fanbase  
Seven Deadly Sins fanbase  
Naruto Fanbase  
Berserk Fanbase  
One Piece Fanbase  
Bleach Fanbase  
Overlord Fanbase  
Hunter x Hunter fanbase

These are the worst Video Game Fanbases

God of War fanbase  
Legend of Zelda fanbase  
Halo Fanbase  
Mario Fanbase  
Mega Man Fanbase

Even Movies and Television fanbases are guilty of this for example the worst movie fanbase is the Star Wars Fanbase

Cringeworthy fans who attack anyone who disagrees, who are aggressively rude and go as far as tell people to commit suicide. They tend to constantly bash other fanbases to provoke and upset other people. So social communities like Deviantart and Youtube are constantly filled with trolls bashing and attacking each other.

The Touhou Project fanbase is especially guilty of this and much worse compared to all the others.

This is especially prevalent in Death Battles talks where people argue over who would win in a fight. These fanbases in particular are notoriously known for being bad at debating and just going straight to insulting people.

However despite all the notorious horrible fanbases. There are a few good ones. The Fairy Tail Fanbase is incredibly friendly and nice despite all the trolls and haters they have to deal with. Same with the Sonic fanbase. The Undertale fanbase is amazing. They make great works of art, interesting new universes and the fan made animations are simply incredible. Then there is the Kingdom Hearts fanbase full of lovely people to meet.

Fairy Tail, Sonic, Undertale and Kingdom Hearts series are the four best series to enjoy and watch. They are very popular series and for good reason. And unlike the other popular series like One Piece or Fate Stay Night. The Fairy Tail fanbase isn't cringeworthy and are full of nice people to talk to.


	3. Chapter 3

**Fairy Tail / One Piece fight comparison**

Natsu vs Laxus / Luffy vs Crocodile

Laxus fought several people and used Fairy Law. Literally exhausting all his magic power. Natsu won fair and square. Whereas Luffy wins through the power of asspull.

Crocodile completely dominates Luffy then suddenly out of nowhere Luffy wins through an asspull.

Natsu vs Zero / Luffy vs Lucci

Natsu had already used Dragon Force once and Jellal was a reknown wizard saint capable of mastering the 4 elements to the point of singlehandedly casting Abyss Break. Natsu barely overpowers Zero after hard fought victory. It stayed consistent.

Lucci beats Luffy easily several times. Usopp yells friendship to Luffy. Luffy receives Power of Friendship and takes down Lucci in one attack.

Ezra vs Azuma / Zoro vs Daz Bones The Tenrou Tree was previously stated to protect FT members and enchant their magic. Azuma states he left Erza's magic alone. The Tenrou Tree gives Erza magic like it was stated to.

Daz Bones completely dominates Zoro in a fight. Zoro spouts some bullshit speech and then out of nowhere suddenly one shots Daz Bones.

Erza vs Kyoka / Natsu vs Hades / Luffy vs Oars / Zoro vs Kaku

Erza can sense magic power. As shown when she sensed Hades's power and Mard Geer's power before they attacked. Kyoka stood still. It stayed mostly consistent.

Natsu lightning flame mode had already been hinted at. Natsu has already eat lightning once. So his transformation was hinted at and justified.

Unlike Luffy and Zoro. Natsu doesn't win because of his transformation. Hades shrugs it off and describes Natsu's new power as an entertaining warm up. Ultimately its the exceeds destroying Devil's Heart that defeats Hades not the main character. Meanwhile Oars goes down like a bitch to Luffy's asspull transformation

Referenced in FT Chapter 106

Oars completely dominates the Straw Hat Pirates with Luffy severely wounded. Luffy pulls a transformation out of his ass and turns into Nightmare Luffy and stomps Oars.

Kaku completely dominates Zoro. Zoro gets upset cause of Robin. Zoro receives nakama power and pulls a transformation out of his ass and suddenly one shots Kaku.

Dragon Slayers vs Dorma Anim / Natsu vs Future Rogue / Luffy vs Doflamingo / Luffy vs Katakuri

Dragon Slayers work together in perfect unison and pull off a unison raid a pre established ability to beat the bad guy. They eat their elements when their magic is running low. Natsu eats flames from the missiles, Gajeel eats the metal dragon, Wendy can eat the air

Natsu eats Atlas's flames for a power boost as Atlas Flame himself explains. With his new power from the hellflames he defeats Future Rogue.

Doflamingo completely dominates Luffy in every way. Luffy pulls 4th Gear out of his ass and defeats Doflamingo. He somehow escapes Doflamingo's strings despite none of Whitebeard's Commanders being able to.

Round 1 - Katakuri easily beats Luffy. Round 2 Luffy pulls Snake Man Transformation out of his ass and beats Katakuri. Despite the fact. Katakuri is at full strength while Luffy is exhausted after fighting several enemies but Luffy's plot armor prevails.

Erza vs Minerva / Zoro vs Kuma

Erza previously got second origin from Ultear. An established power. Erza uses her second origin against Minerva. It stayed consistent.

Zoro who previously could barely move from one stab wound. He fights Kuma while heavily wounded and barely standing after being defeated by Oars. Kuma transfers all of Luffy's pain and injuries to Zoro. Zoro somehow survives cause of plot armor. Fairy Tail is consistent. One Piece is not.

Win/Loss Record

Natsu losses: Aria, Fukuro, Cobra, Ultear, Bluenote, Acnologia, Torafuzer, Madmorl.

Erza losses: Jose Porla, Jellal, Cobra, Acnologia, Eclipse Dragons, Irene, Kyria

Erza has won on her merits.

As for Luffy and Zoro

Luffy Losses: Kuma.

Zoro Losses: Kuma

They literally have about one or two losses each. Cause the few losses those two have. Luffy and Zoro just pull out one asspull after another to win

If Natsu actually won by yelling friendship as optards and other trolls keep claiming. He would not lose half of his battles. Zero would have lost the second Natsu went into dragon force. Hades wouldn't have immediately gotten up from Natsu's strongest attack with nary a scratch. Mard Geer would have instantly lost to Natsu when Dragon Force happened.

On the other hand, Luffy practically never loses. Just mention the word friendship and Luffy instantly wins.

Lucci completely dominated the fight. Usopp says friendship. Luffy instantly wins with one attack. Oars dominated the battle. Friendship is mentioned. Luffy gains new transformation out of nowhere that goes against every established rule in One Piece. Luffy instantly beats Oars with nakama power. No consequences. Luffy vs Doflamingo. Friendship is mentioned. 4th Gear Asspull stomps Doflamingo. Luffy vs Katakuri. Friendship is mentioned. Luffy instantly wins with new asspull transformation. And so on & so on.


	4. Chapter 4

even hardcore one piece fans admit oda is spineless

My point is that it can't cower away from death even when the story demands it, and can't continue to death-bait us)

This one is a bit of a complaint, but I'm sure a lot of the fanbase is having problems with this as well.

Oda can't kill, and the story suffers from it. Even when characters clearly die, Oda makes them somehow not die.

Sure, characters in backstories die, so do characters who explicitly state their eventual death (Ace, maybe Pedro, etc).

I remember finishing Alabasta and being overwhelmed with emotion - it's truly a masterpiece. Pell's sacrifice was so impactful, and really drove home to everyone that the Grand Line was not just a game, but a place where sacrifices were made and lives were lost...

And then it wasn't. In one fell swoop (pun intended) Oda overwrote the climax of the Alabasta arc by, for some inexplicable reason, contriving Pell's survival from what was effectively a point blank nuclear blast. And suddenly the climax of the story was invalidated, and no narrative purpose was achieved by saving Pell. The opposite, in fact. He should have died, and I tend to ignore his presence in the current chapters to save the dignity of Alabasta.

Remember the tragedy of (one of my all time favorite characters) Bon Clay? Remember how Magellan literally sentenced him to execution, asked for last words, and struck with his corrosive poison? The climax of the arc being his noble sacrifice that would cement the legacy of his character and drive Luffy forward? Nope! Oda overwrote that and made that whole moment obsolete. He didn't sacrifice anything, your tears were wasted.

Remember SMILEY, and the suspense of soldiers being taken by it one by one as it inched closer to our heroes? Nope, nothing to worry about after all.

What about Pekoms? He was machine gunned with hundreds of rounds, then shot in the head, then fell off off a cliff into shark infested water, handcuffed. This could have presented a very interesting narrative point where Capone's loyalty and the morality of allying with him is very much a conflict, but instead we get a miraculous save yet again for Pekoms that does nothing.

Remember Charlotte Mascato? Who had his life taken by Big Mom's rage, was pronounced dead, and was carried away to be disposed of? Magically alive, lessening Big Mom's threat.

There are many other examples...but the point is that it has become very difficult to take One Piece's perilous situations seriously, because even minor characters are invincible. I've really struggled to feel suspense recently because I know Oda won't actually commit to characters dying. Pedro's sacrifice, for instance, can we really believe it given all the other "sacrifices" that came before? It's hard to feel sad for his death when you can't be sure it even happened.

I hope Oda learns to kill characters when necessary in the future, because as it stands, we have no reason to take the perils of the New World too seriously. It seems like he might be learning, as it seems like King Baum and Pound really did lose their lives. If they did, we can see just how dangerous the Yonko are, but if they come back, again, we really have no reason to be invested or concerned.

I don't want to harp on about narrative construction when Oda really is a genius story teller in most regards, but I wanted to share this concern and see if anyone else feels the same way.

I want to feel immersed in the world again and now see Oda behind the picture forcing things.

Like Zoro said in Water 7...

"This isn't some silly pirate game."


	5. Chapter 5

OK, so there's Okuyasu. Both Josuke and Hayato are pretty sure that he's dead after Killer Queen/Stray Cat blew a hole in his chest, to the point that he even lacked a pulse. But, because Araki apparently forgot to properly develop Okuyasu throughout Part 4, he gets a last-minute scene of forced character development where he sees Keicho at the brink between life and death and makes the decision to return to Morioh without having to be guided by his older brother. And then, he wakes up in the nick of time to save Josuke from death. It's basically a Deus ex Machina.

Personally, while my opinion of him and his role in Part 5 has greatly improved since the retranslations, one issue I think Giorno might still have (through no fault of his own, however) is his plot armour.

Apart from Polnareff, he is the only character to survive getting straight-up punched in the head by one of the strongest Stands in the series: King Crimson. And not only that, Giorno later does get his Stand's head bashed in by King Crimson, but miraculously, the arrow that had previously pierced him but fail to do nothing suddenly jumps back up and enters his arm. It might've been a fake-out, but it feels rather disingenuous and misleading to the readers (since that never happened when Polnareff struck Silver Chariot with the arrow before being killed by Diavolo).

And previously, Giorno explains in great detail the amount of damage Green Day had inflicted upon him - a hole in his right lung; a severed subclavian vein; four broken ribs; a broken right humerus; and a broken right hand - but is somehow still standing and acts like it's nothing, even managing to muster up the strength to deliver a fatal seven-page "MUDAMUDA barrage* to Cioccolata. It's badass, but even for JoJo, it's ridiculous.

The same can be said for Giorno's father: the series' most reoccurring antagonist, Dio Brando himself. He manages to survive an entire mansion going up in flames; a Hamon-empowered sword slicing down what would be presumably be his brain; a ship's explosion; and an entire century underwater without blood for sustenance and only the energy of a dead man to continue his life. And, even after the upper half of his body is destroyed by Jotaro's Star Platinum, he was still apparently showing signs of life, only being killed for good when his body was put out by Jotaro and Joseph to be disintegrated into ash in the sunlight.

Trish is also technically killed when Diavolo's King Crimson straight-up donut-punches Spice Girl (her soul) and is shown ascending to the heavens, but is awkwardly saved and returned to her body with no injuries or otherwise negative consequences when Buccellati fully destroys Chariot Requiem (because Diavolo apparently kept "the light behind his soul" intact so he could still get the arrow) with Sticky Fingers by eradicating the light behind his own soul. More plot armour, since it seems like Buccellati and co. would've essentially failed their "mission" if Trish - one of the biggest reasons Buccellati decided to rebel against the Boss in the first place - perished in the final battle (despite the fact that Narancia received no such lucky fate and was apparently killed so instantly that not even Gold Experience could heal him).

It kind of reminds me of what happened with Joseph, who already had ascended and even gave a goodbye speech to Jotaro before disappearing into the clouds, but was brought back thanks to a blood transfusion and Star Platinum performing manual heart massage... or whatever. It's still awkward to bring back a character who'd already died and gone to the afterlife, though.

As for Mista... it's slightly more forgivable because I feel like Araki retroactively hangs a kind of meta lampshade on it when he wrote the "Sleeping Slaves" epilogue, with Mista surviving even when he jumped out of a building holding Rolling Stones because he was not yet "fated to die"; his death had not yet been carved into the rock. (That might also explain why the only other surviving member of the team that directly interacted with Mista when he was holding the rock during that arc was Fugo, who survived Mista crashing on top of his car, although he didalso later make his own decision to not betray the Boss along with Buccellati and co.) Nonetheless, it's certainly remarkable how many times Mista gets shot with his own rebounding bullets during the fight against Ghiaccio's White Album, and even gets a bullet straight to the head in the end (which even Ghiaccio assumes was fatal), only for Giorno to somehow sneak up behind Mista without Ghiaccio realising and heal Mista's wound just in time.

Joseph Joestar. Enough said.

Joseph "Lemme ride this rock to nearly the end of Earth's atmosphere and crash-land but still survive" Joestar.

Joseph "Surprise blood transfusion that miraculously did not turn him into a vampire" Joestar.

Joseph "no one is unbeatable as long as I have a plane, a red jewel and a volcano handily available" Joestar

Joseph "I took all the luck Jolyne could've gotten" Joestar

Joseph "I could've found Kira but I was playing senile so I didn't" Joestar

Joseph "Somehow I made it to part six" Joestar

Joseph "Turns out my asspulls somehow saved me from MiH" Joestar

Joseph "I can fit a dozen grenades and a machine gun up my ass because the plot demands it" Joestar

Joseph "I'll guess you're next line and shock you so bad you don't realize that there's tnt up your ass" Joestar

Joseph "no one is unbeatable as long as I have a plane, a red jewel, a volcano, and my severed hand that just so happens to strike my enemy in their throat available" Joestar


	6. Chapter 6

The above mentioned are common complaints levied against Dragon Ball Super, and they have been increasingly used since the introduction of Kale and Caulifla, particularly in the last few weeks, since the episodes have been focusing on them and now their fused form, Kefla. I think these criticisms are mostly unwarranted, because they have been big parts of the Dragon Ball series, especially in the sagas people seem to have the most love for (Namek Saga and Android Saga). In this post I'm going to attempt to compile all of the "Asspulls" and "Undeserved Powerups" of the series, that if they were shown today, would be criticized just as harshly as Dragon Ball Super currently is. It will mostly focus on the Z portion of the series because it introduced power levels which quantified the power of the characters, and made use of powerups more than the original Dragon Ball part of the series.

Dragon Ball

The Ultra Divine Water: This is the first real asspull powerup of the series and, unlike the Sacred Water, which was just tap water and the real powerup came from the training, is actually magic water, which allows Goku's power to go from being easily defeated by an old and weakened King Piccolo, to being able to defeat King Piccolo in his prime.

Dragon Ball Z

Gohan's rage boost when Raditz was hurting Goku is an undeserved powerup. There's some loose rationalization of this by saying Gohan is a half saiyan, and has a lot of potential, which I'm fine with, but by the standard people are holding DBS to, just saying someone is angry and/or has a lot of potential isn't enough to justify the massive boost in power. This rage boost allowed Gohan to do a decent amount of damage to Raditz, who was completely outclassing Goku and Piccolo at the same time. Goku, who had trained his whole life, including three years of training with Kami, and Piccolo, who was the warrior class reincarnation of King Piccolo, were unable to do anything to Raditz, while Gohan, a spoiled five year old who had never trained in his life (Chi-Chi wouldn't allow it) was able to damage him.

Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha's training with Kami: Goku (who was already stronger than everyone else), after training with Kami for three years, and then training in the five year time gap between DB and DBZ, had a power level of 416, while Raditz had a power level of 1,500. In one year of training they were all able to surpass Raditz's power. Starting off weaker than Goku and with less training than Goku had, they were able to far surpass Goku's strength before his training on King Kai's planet. If we're judging this by the same standard we judge DBS, this massive increase of power would be labelled an asspull, and this is at the beginning of the series. It gets much worse later on.

Goku's gravity training on the spaceship: Goku went from having a power level of a bit over 8,000 to 90,000, in five days. This is a bit less concrete, because he did use senzu beans to heal and he was training, but the speed at which he obtained this massive increase of power is a bit ridiculous. He clearly got this power because the plot necessitated that he be that strong.

Vegeta's Zenkai boost after fighting Recoome: Vegeta's previous zenkai boosts had been relatively small, going from 18,000 to 24,000 at his arrival on Namek, to 30,000 after being beat by Zarbon. This Zenkai boost allowed him to easily defeat Jeice, and let him be roughly on par with First Form Frieza (I say that because after their little fight, he felt the need to transform, where Vegeta went from confident to afraid). This form of Frieza had a power level of 530,000, which is a power boost significantly higher than any he had gotten before.

Gohan's rage boost against Second Form Frieza: This rage boost is even more ridiculous than the one against Raditz. Gohan's power went from weaker than Recoome (even if he got a Zenkai boost he still would have been weaker than Vegeta) to enough to do some damage to Second Form Frieza, who had a power level over 1 million.

Vegeta's Zenkai boost from Krillin: This powerup is completely undeserved, and allowed Vegeta to be confident against Second Form and presumably Third Form Frieza.

Goku's Zenkai boost after fighting Captain Ginyu: The most ridiculous and last mentioned Zenkai boost of the series. Goku goes from a power level of 90,000 to 3 million. Why the inconsistency in power gained from a Zenkai boost? Plot, and it surely wasn't a deserved powerup, and would most definitely be labelled an asspull.

This one is kind of an aside, because it's part of his character, but Frieza's power. Unlike Goku, Frieza had never trained a day in his life, and he had a power level of 120 million at full power. For all the complaints about Frieza's four months of training and Jiren's crazy power, this is worse than both in my opinion. At least they both trained and presumably earned their power. Frieza in the Namek saga was just born like that.

Vegeta's transformation into a Super Saiyan: Anime filler and dub changes aside, Vegeta became a Super Saiyan because he trained and got mad. This is nothing compared to the rage Goku experienced after seeing his childhood friend murdered in front of him. Considering the way people criticize the U6 Saiyans for getting easy transformations, this is just as bad. Vegeta became a Super Saiyan because the plot demanded it and there was a flimsy explanation thrown in.

The power of Androids 17 and 18: In regards to undeserved power, these two are close to the top. An Earth scientist was able to create Androids that were significantly stronger than the previously strongest being in the universe (Frieza, and before Goku the power gap wasn't even remotely close), and had infinite stamina. People will criticize Android 17's big power boost in Super, but at least he trained. 17 and 18's power in the Android saga were so big because the plot demanded that they be stronger than a Super Saiyan.

Gohan's transformation into a Super Saiyan: I'm not going to criticize the Super Saiyan 2 transformation because an ascended Super Saiyan had been referred to the whole saga and was built up well. This transformation is off screen, but Goku's instructions to Gohan are basically power up and get mad by using your imagination. Once again, another easy transformation after Goku went Super Saiyan first. At this point Super Saiyan means little and will mean even less in the next arc.

Goten and Trunks getting Super Saiyan: Goten gets it while training with Chi Chi, and Trunks gets it offscreen without Vegeta's knowledge. Super Saiyan from this point forward means pretty much nothing and any Saiyan can get it with enough power.

As an aside, I'd like to point out that both Goku and Vegeta achieved Super Saiyan 2 by training and getting more powerful, and considering it was during a time of peace, there was likely no emotional trigger to achieve it. This kind of shows that the key to achieving Super Saiyan 2 isn't just rage like how Gohan achieved it, but training as well. I'm kind of assuming once your power gets to a certain threshold it becomes a lot easier to achieve.

Gotenks achieving Super Saiyan 3: Two kids unable to go Super Saiyan 2 being able to go Super Saiyan 3 while fused just shows how powerful fusion is, but it is an undeserved powerup. With the small time they had in the RoSaT, they were able to achieve what took Goku seven years of training while dead. They clearly achieved this because the plot demanded it, due to the power of Super Buu.

Gohan getting his potential unlocked: I get that Gohan's crazy potential had been hyped up throughout the entire series, but getting his potential unlocked by Guru and achieving Super Saiyan 2 were supposed to be examples of that. After seven years of training Goku and Vegeta had barely surpassed the level Gohan had shown against Cell. This is the definition of an asspull and an undeserved powerup. After being weaker than he was seven years ago due to never training, Gohan was able to surpass Goku and Gotenks at Super Saiyan 3 by a significant margin (he easily beat Super Buu while Gotenks had to put in effort in the fight), and without the massive stamina drain of Super Saiyan 3. And he achieved this not through training, but through a magical ceremony


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